Art & Real World Hooks - Patents

We are learning about intellectual property in Business Law. For the lesson on patents, I asked the kids to think of an invention. They drew a mock up of the invention using Google draw, which they had shared with their partner. I then asked them to see if their invention was patentable. We watched a crash course video to learn about the requirements of a patent. They wrote up their eval and posted on their blog.

This activity kept the students engaged. It applied a little creativity, art, and some real world hooks. They had the autonomy to choose their invention. I enjoyed seeing what the kids created.

Food Hook

Try adding food to a performance task to increase excitement and engagement. My class was learning about consumer laws. We learned about the FDA and how they regulated foods. Each student chose a food item to research and present. We then ate food items in which  they brought to class.

Watch to learn what is in your food.

Perseverance and Success

Last week I had a student get a perfect score on the Microsoft Office Specialist Expert level certification. It wasn't the first time he had taken it. In fact, it was his third try. Many of my students had tried and failed and had immediately determined that they could not do it. This student had a different mindset. He didn't give up and he succeeded. Now to get the rest of the students to change their mindset.

More Students that passed the Expert level of the MOS Word certification.

Stay Mobile

One of the best ways to avoid classroom management issues is to stay mobile. This is a method that works well with our without technology. In this picture, I am teaching from my Ipad using an app called, Nearpod.

Students Sharing Ideas & Learning Together

I noticed several of my advanced web students discussing ways they could create a site that looked like a book with pages that turned. They were sharing potential code and even past efforts. It was awesome to see them put their brains together to try to solve a problem.

Add an art hook

Today my law students reviewed new terms by playing pictionary. Students were smiling, clapping, and cheering for one another. It was definitely an improvement from a worksheet.

Collaborating- watching student created video clips